Warrant issued for bar patron in fatal DWI

By Carol Christian |
August 3, 2013
| Updated: August 3, 2013 6:28pm

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Kambiz Michael Duran, 29, of Spring. He allegedly gave drinks to fellow bar patron Nicole Baukus when she was already intoxicated, shortly before she was involved in a fatal accident. Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Police Reporter.

Photo By Montgomery County Sheriff

Nicole Baukus is on trial in Montgomery County on two counts of intoxication manslaughter.

Photo By Johnny Hanson/.

As viewed from FM 1488 and Interstate 45 in Montgomery County traffic southbound was backed up for more than five hours after a woman was accused of drunk driving after police say she drove the wrong way on Interstate 45 early Friday morning colliding with a car, leaving two people dead and another injured Friday, June 29, 2012, in Conroe. The two-vehicle wreck happened about 3 a.m. on southbound Interstate 45 near Texas 242 north of Shenandoah, said Department of Public Safety Trooper III Erik Burse. Burse said Nicole Baukus is charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault. She was taken into custody, Burse said. Burse said Baukus was driving a Ford F-150 pickup northbound on the southbound lanes of Interstate 45 when she collided with a Chevrolet Aveo. A 23-year-old woman who was driving the Aveo and a man riding in the backseat died at the scene.

Montgomery County officials issued an arrest warrant for a man who allegedly gave drinks to an already intoxicated 24-year-old Nicole Baukus before she drove away from a bar and caused a fatal accident.

Baukus, who pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault in the July 29, 2012, accident, was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison.

After a night of drinking at a bar then called On the Rox, Baukus drove her pickup the wrong way on Interstate 45, colliding head-on around 2:50 a.m. with a Chevrolet Aveo near FM 242. The crash killed Nicole Adams, 19, and Travis Saunders, 18, and injured David Porras, now 23.

As an outgrowth of the trial, a warrant was issued Friday for Kambiz Michael Duran, 29, who is in the Harris County Jail after pleading guilty last month to possession of marijuana. On July 10, he was sentenced to 180 days in a state jail.

Harris County online records show that a hold from Montgomery County was placed on the Spring resident Friday, meaning that before Duran is freed, Montgomery County will have the opportunity to detain him.

Duran, a fellow bar patron, was seen on surveillance video giving Baukus a few drinks toward the end of the night, but authorities didn't know his identity, said Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam, co-prosecutor for the case.

"We could see him giving her drinks in the video but nobody would identify him," Diepraam said. "It was only during the trial when witnesses started testifying (that we learned his name)."

The same statute that makes it illegal to sell drinks to an intoxicated person also prohibits giving alcohol to someone who has already consumed too much, Diepraam explained.

On the Rox was cited for over-serving a customer and had its license suspended from Feb. 27 to March 28, according to the TABC. Since then, the bar's insurance company has agreed to a $1 million settlement for over-serving a patron.

The money is to be divided among Porras and the estates of Adams and Saunders.

Oscar Williams, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent based in Conroe, testified during the trial that Baukus drank 17 shots and four beers. Most of the shots were a mix of bourbon, Red Bull and either peach schnapps or watermelon schnapps, William said.

Baukus and Duran apparently ran into each other at the bar, rather than arriving together, Diepraam said. He said he didn't know if the two were acquainted previously.